40K: The Unbeatable List: BAO Edition
Congratulations to the BAO champion Brandon Grant for proving Dark Angels don’t need allies to win and everyone else who made the top 8!
Hello everyone! PeteyPab here with some BAO coverage and tournament predictions.
The BAO is upon us, and with it comes camaraderie, cheesy lists, and more bottom table drinking games then I would care to admit in this article. Read on weary travelers, and find out what you would have encountered if you attended this year’s BAO.
The Winning Dark Angels list is below in red
A New Venue
The guys over at Game Kastle are helping us running it this year. They are providing the terrain, the tables, and the space. They did a great job choosing a large enough venue for the BAO and their help gives everyone over here at Frontline more time to make sure everything else about the event runs as smoothly as a model over one of our F.A.T. mats (shameless advertising? check)
Our Warhammer 40k Community
I may not always get along with everyone in our community 100% of the time, but I do love and appreciate every single person that makes the effort to come to events and share a mutual love for our game and hobby. It is a wonderful experience to see both spirited competitors, and talented hobbyists drinking together, laughing at dice rolls, and generally having a good time.
Speaking of Spirited Competitors….
With 2015 winner Alan Bajramovic and 2014 winner Steve Sisk nowhere in sight it is time for a new player to wear the coveted Belt of Russ. There are a lot of good players coming out but I am going to narrow it down to my three favorites to win the entire thing.
Julio is hungry for some BAO glory. He has quietly had one of his best ITC seasons yet. With a Best General win at the Broadside Bash and one of the best meta Eldar lists Julio is looking to break out with a dominant GT win. There are some rumors going on about Julio bringing a Blood Angels battle company list flying around, and if that’s the case Julio is the guy that can finally bring glory to the Space Vampires.
- Round 1: W 11-2 against a battle company
- Round 2: W 11-0 against Tau monster mash
- Round 3: W 8-4 against Dark Angels Battle Company
- Round 4: T 6-6 against Seer Council
- Round 5: L 9-4 against 45 Warp Spiders
- Round 6: L 11-2 against Tau
Matt Root knows his stuff. I thought maybe after hearing his story about how he got into the top 8 at Adepticon, his glory might be a fluke. He quickly silenced my doubts however with a dominant win at the Flying Monkey GT and is now sitting pretty at the top of the ITC rankings. Matt knows his stuff and as soon as I saw his name on the registration list I knew he would be a player to watch. Also, if you want to know what kind of list he will possibly bring here is a List-Tech article I did on his AdMech list.
- Round 1: W 11-1 against Daemons
- Round 2: W 11-1 against Space Marines
- Round 3: W 11-1 against Battle Company
- Round 4: W 9-2 against Tau (Mason was unable to play)
- Round 5: W 11-1 against Eldar
- Round 6: T 6-6 against 30 Warp Spiders Eldar
James and Frankie are the only players in the top 20 ITC rankings with only 4 games under their belt (Edit: Sorry Vincent Arroyo!) Of the players with 4 games, James is the highest sitting at 11th. James is on fire this season, he may only have 4 games but almost all of them are dominant wins among quality competition and he is practicing non-stop against some really solid competition (and me…). His Cyclopian Cabal list is terrifying, and he is poised to have a great 2016 ITC season.
- Round 1: W 11-1 against Tau
- Round 2: W 7-3 against Battle Company
- Round 3: W 10-0 against Space Wolves
- Round 4: W 11-0 against Bike Scars
- Round 5: L 6-5 against Dark Angels (The BAO champ)
- Round 6: W 11-0 against Chaos Daemons
Results: Well, two of the players finished in the top 8 and one player looked primed to accompany them if not for a poorly timed tie, and losses to two great players. Maybe next year I will be able to predict the winner!
Bay Area Open Army Breakdown
Reece announcing the winners
BAO Results and Top List
Brandon Grant beats Matthew Schuchman and his Eldar Seer council to become the only player in the tournament to finish 6-0. Brandon’s Dark Angels (below) took care of business against 4 opponents with 5 wins, and 3 players who won their respective “best of faction” rewards. Brandon was matched against an insanely diverse and talented group of players (Daemons, Eldar, Orks, Ad Mech, GuardDar, and Imperial Knights). Not only that, but he did it with a list that is widely regarded as inferior to it’s big brother the White Scars battle company. Good Job Brandon, way to take the sacred belt of Russ away from those pesky space puppies. Azrael would be proud.
Another note, there were three undefeated players at the start of round 6. Brandon got paired down, and Matt Root and Andrew Ford played an intense game that saw both a knight, and wraithknight go down to not so accurate Eldar artillery. Their game ended in a draw which paved the way for Brandon to finish 6-0. You can find the rest of the top 8 on the bestcoast app but i’m going to go over them here as well.
The Top 8
1) Brandon Grant [6-0] (list below)
Dark Angels Battle Company
2) Matt Root [5-0-1]
Melee oriented War Convocation
3) Michael Snider [5-0-1]
White Scars Battle Company
4) Andrew Ford [5-0-1]
30 Warp Spiders Eldar
5) Thomas Hegstrom Oakey [5-0-1]
White Scars Battle Company
6) Carlos Kaiser [5-1]
GuardDar with Inquisition
7) Geoff Robinson [5-1]
War Convocation with a Librarius Conclave
8) James Carmona [5-1]
Chaos Daemons Cabal Star/Mini Screamer Star
Here is your top 8, I will be posting up each list and a brief analysis up on the Frontlinegaming site periodically over the next few weeks. If there is any player in the 25 you would like to have me review please let me know in the comments down below!
And the Winner is!
Brandon Grant’s Dark Angels
Lion’s Blade Strike Force
Company Master: (Warlord) Fist, Artificer Armor
Chaplain: Bike, Auspex
Tactical Squad: Rhino, Grav-Cannon,
Tactical Squad: Rhino, Multi-Melta
Tactical Squad: Razorback (HB), Heavy Bolter
Tactical Squad: Razorback (HB)
Tactical Squad: Razorback (HB)
Tactical Squad: Pod, Melta/Combi-Melta
Assault Squad: 2x Flamers, Pod
Assault Squad: 2x Flamers, Pod
Devastator Squad: Rhino, Grav-Cannon
Devastator Squad: Rhino, Grav-Cannon
Scouts (Auxiliary choice)
Ravenwing Strike Force
Techmarine: Bike, Auspex
Ravenwing Command Squad: 5 Black Knights, Apothecary, 5 Plasma Talons, Grenade Launcher
Ravenwing Black Knight Squad: 5 Black Knights, Huntmaster, 5 Plasma Talons, Grenade Launcher
Ravenwing Darkshroud
~Give it up for the champion!
